Internal combustion engine are continually being refined to increase the output of the engine as well as reduce the engine's weight and/or size. Boosting devices such as turbochargers and superchargers have been added to engines so that the engines may have output similar to larger displacement engines without the reduced fuel economy and increased emissions of larger displacement engines. Further, vehicle fuel economy may be improved in vehicles having smaller engines at least in part because smaller engines may weigh less than larger displacement engines.
However, decreasing engine size and/or increasing engine power output can increase stress on the engine components. Such concerns may be particularly present for boosted engines which typically have a high power to weight ratio as compared to naturally aspirated engines. Therefore, some boosted engines are comprised of increased amounts of material, such as aluminum, to reinforce the cylinder block. But, increasing the amount of material used to form the cylinder block can increase engine weight, thereby undermining the basic objective of increasing the engine's power to weight ratio.
The inventors herein have recognized the challenges of boosting a weight reduced engine and have provided a cylinder block. The cylinder block includes a cylinder, two crankshaft supports at a bottom of the cylinder block, a cylinder head engaging surface at a top of the cylinder block, and first and second exterior sidewalls, the first exterior sidewall extending from the cylinder head engaging surface to a first structural frame engaging surface positioned above a centerline of the two crankshaft supports.
By raising the height of structural frame engaging surface and therefore the structural frame sidewalls, it may possible to increase the strength of a cylinder block assembly while at the same time reducing weight of the cylinder block assembly. In particular, the structural frame may provide support to the cylinder block while being constructed of a lighter weight material.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.
FIGS. 3-19 are drawn approximately to scale.